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What is Player Development? |
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 The game is already in each child; we as
coaches need to create a game environment:
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Activities that the child
wants to participate in because they are fun.
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Players being exposed to
playing all positions.
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Every player has a ball for
practice.
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Activities designed to
maximize the number of touches by each player at practice.
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Rules modified for players
according to their age group characteristics.
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Equipment modified for players
according to their age group characteristics.
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Activities designed to promote
thinking, not doing Activities.
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De-emphasize winning/losing.
We do not need to keep standings, statistics, etc.
Kids at the beginning of
practice are waiting for the coach to tell them what to do. This is
extremely negative. What we as coaches should be doing is creating an
environment where the kids play the game
What a coach can do to
create this environment at the beginning of practice:
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As the first kids arrive at
practice place 2 small goals so they can play 1 vs. 1.
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As another child arrives have
them jump in and make it 2 vs. 1.
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Keep adjusting the field size
as new players show until they are all playing a game.
Do this for about 15 minutes,
and then begin practice.
"Truths" About Children and Sports
The four underlying concepts provide a number
of truths about children and sports that have been identified in other
research.
Fun is pivotal; if it's not "fun," young people won't
play a sport.
Skill development is a crucial aspect of fun; it is
more important than winning even among the best athletes.
When a coach forces kids to play a certain position
there is a certain type of grounding that is established in that
player that might take a year to get out of. We are restricting
players at a very young age by putting them into positions. We need
to let them have free play. The worst thing that could happen is
they could get scored on.
The most rewarding challenges of sports are those that
lead to self-knowledge.
Coaches need to incorporate as much DECISION
MAKING into their practice as possible.
Intrinsic rewards (self-knowledge that grows
out of self-competition) are more important in creating lifetime
athletes than are extrinsic rewards (victory or attention from
others).
Kids can learn about themselves through the
game. This is why we as coaches need to do activities that enhance the
imagination.
Our present game/sport structure is based on
games of elimination. We must remove games of elimination at the youth
level. |
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▪For more information, please contact us at:
StateOffice@kysoccer.net
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